Because you were all waiting for it... · 7:59pm Apr 22nd, 2012
...my read on the Season 2 Finale.
Seriously mixed bag on this one. On the plus side, the visual design was quite good. I'm not sure I liked how closely Dash's wedding dress resembled her Gala dress, but logically, it is probably the same damn dress; how many fashion sittings does Dash have the time or patience for? Everyone else was pretty adorable, and Pinkie with her hair up is just awfully cute. Our new antagonist (always good grist for the fanfic mill) had a lovely creepy character design. And the general ambiance of Canterlot Under Siege, from the very first establishing shot showing the distant spherical force-field clinging to the side of Canterlot Mountain, was well-set. In general, the episode had a good sense of epic sweep that the series has lacked thus far, and it was nice to see both a proper villain song and a Twilight solo in the same episode (although I'm still holding out for Twilight singing a song about science, because that would totally complete my Twilight Sparkle playlist.) And for me, any appearance of Luna is a little like water in the desert.
Unfortunately... yeah. I have to take major exception with the writing here. It's not made clear if Twilight's family just totally blew her off in terms of the wedding invitations or if Spike dropped the ball on delivering it, but in any case, some apologies are in order, apologies which were never given on-screen. The whole first half of the episode fairly dripped with non-organic and eventually meaningless angst for Twilight, and I really wanted to like Shining Armor a lot more than I did. (It's hard to say if I would have enjoyed him without the grating "Twilie", possibly the most annoying pet name possible.) And as far as the second half goes... as I have commented elsewhere to others, the hero's journey here has absolutely no relationship with either the conflict or its resolution. Here again we have an "I was right all along" episode, much like the episode with the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy device, but there's an important distinction: in the latter episode, A.J. sticks to her principles and what she knows is right, and is eventually rewarded with the town's opinion coming around and recognizing the value of what she's been doing all along. In "A Royal Wedding", the lesson seems to be "Stick to your principles despite the fact that no one will listen to you INCLUDING YOUR BELOVED MENTOR, and eventually, the bad girl will show her true colors without anyone ever having to listen to you or believe you." And when Chrysalis is finally vanquished, it's due to the power of the "love" between Cadence and Shining Armor, a power which never actually been tested (in the sense of trial by fire) or even really demonstrated; we accept that they love each other through narrative fiat rather than through actually seeing the characters struggle and triumph. In this sense, the vanquishing power comes across as bland, naked adoration, rather than capital - L "Love".
And, honestly, how dare Celestia praise Twilight for standing alone and sticking to her principles in a position of great adversity without even a word of acknowledgment that she herself was perhaps the biggest single component of that adversity? Celly absolutely crushed Twilight in the blow-up at the final rehearsal, and to have her wrap it up at the end in the bow of a tepid and wholly impersonal moral platitude is just plain callous of her. So many opportunities for a really touching moment of connection between those two, and they totally wiffed it.
Plink plink.
I liked it and there nothin' you can do about it.
Well, there was one demonstration: when Queen Chrysalis defeated Celestia.
...
Twilight totally should have been the one to provide the power boost.
(also longer fight between the Queen and Celestia would have been nice, especially if then the fight between main six and changelings happens there and Celly buys time to snap Shining out of his daze)
Thank god someone else had a problem with the writing, I brought it up on EqD and the response was it's a kid show and a lot of thumbs down. Although they did that to anyone who said anything against the episode. I have to agree with you about the "love" between Cadence and Shining Armor, I haven't seen such a forced "romance" since the Star Wars prequels. Shining Armor would have been better without "Twilie" line but other than that was fine, for the all of the 30 seconds he was on screen and not under the villain's spell. Celestia's attitude was completely out of character and made her look cold. The only reason Twilight and the others didn't save the day was purely to make Cadence look good, the Mane 6 beet a ton of changelings and then just give up (forget the fact that Luna slept through an invasion). Otherwise the episodes were good.
Agreed. I hadn't articulated it in that way, but I was straight-up pissed at Celestia after that scene. Has Twilight not earned Celestia's respect for her judgement yet? If not, what does she have to do to earn it? Maybe Celestia has a sort of reverse three-strikes rule, and after the season 3 opener in which Twilight will save the world for the third time, Celestia will at last give Twilight the credit she's earned?
And that's not even touching on the fact that not one of her friends gave Twilight's opinion even cursory credence, which would seem to fly in the face of essentially everything the show is about.
And then there's the plot holes large and small, such as: why wasn't Twilight wondering about the, y'know, giant force field around Canterlot at the start of the episode? I find it implausible at best that Twilight would look up at Canterlot during their walk to that picnic spot and think, "Looks like Canterlot is either under attack or under quarantine. . . . Lovely day for a picnic, isn't it?" Also, where exactly was Luna during the whole foofaraw?
But on the other hand, the redeeming factor was the grist for the fic mill (and the fantastic music, of course). Forgotten mines beneath Canterlot--why are they forgotten? My theory: because Celestia suppressed the knowledge after the miners hit veins of a material which repels magic (such as Twilight's forehead laser), and the possibilities inherent in the spread of such a material terrified her. Queen Chrysalis--she must have been in Canterlot for a while, because she determined who to replace to best achieve her goal, and also that a threat against Canterlot would further that goal. My view: she had infiltrated Canterlot quite some time ago, probably months ago, and so that raises questions such as "what else did she do while living among the enemy?" The changelings--Queen Chrysalis is an alicorn of an alien species, and the changeling drones seem to be mini-alicorns of a sort, capable of both flight and some magic. So are changelings fallen ponies, cursed with a new form and new hungers? Are they the fourth "breed" of pony? Are they X-Men-style mutants, Equus ferus novus? My headcanon is that they're what Tartarus contains, and they escaped a while back while Cerberus was running around instead of guarding the entrance to Tartarus.
Overall for the finale, I'd say you win some and you lose some.
81250
Forget being asleep, Luna was not in Canterlot at the time, as seen by her entering the barrier for her turn.
Needs more pictures and implications that pony semen is mountain dew
That's what makes it academically professional, Skywriter, I'm telling you buddy
81266
See 81269
Also, my thoughs are the changelings are equine for the same reason wyndigos are: beings that draw power from emotional bonds (hate is a connection, just a negative one) take on the form of their food.
And about the barrier, why would she suspect he is maintaining it himself? And that he could not tell her sooner? (Really somepony should have helped, cause it was hurting him to maintain it)
81269 True, Canterlot is under threat and one of its rulers is somewhere? Where does Luna go anyway?
81277
Private royal villa several miles away (or much higher up the mountain)
Having a smack down of both princesses would have been too much really, and that scene explained why there is only one present.
Well, I'd say that Cadence's and Shining Armor's love doesn't really need to be demonstrated, because it's not actually a character trait; it's a McGuffin.
81291
Which are very bland if there is not struggle (especially the kind that causes development) in the process of getting it.
Twilight's magic would have been better cause she had to put up with so much over this and did so much in order to get victory. Cadence only proved the other an imposter and broke the spell on Shining Armor with mind warping love magic.
I agree completely. Although my biggest beef is Celestia getting defeated so easily. My head-canon now states that it was a lucky shot resulting from Celestia both underestimating her opponent and being completely unable to summon her true strength, lest she nuke Canterlot completely.
Any other explanation and my response is "I REJECT YOUR REALITY AND SUBSTITUTE MY OWN!"
81343
What about saying her maltreatment of Twilight in part one at least halved Celestia's magic of a time? Friendship is magic after all, and she was not very friendly to somepony close to her.
81343
Eh, I think one of the main reasons it seems so 'cheap' is just because The Power of Love is such a cliche. I think there would be less complaining about it if Chrysalis had used the Star Crown to defeat Celestia instead.
81300
I mean, I'm not actually defending the episode! I agree that there were a bunch of holes and missteps; I just don't think 'their love wasn't developed' is one of them.
81234
I have no intention of doing anything about it! Not that I actually could, until I develop neurolinguistic hacking skills which will allow me to directly edit people's minds with my words. Still in the planning stages on that.
81250
Yeah, I'm not keen on the excuse that just because it's a show for kids, the writers should be excused the responsibility they have to close their arcs. I mean, they're usually pretty good about it, in at least a roundabout way.
81266
They're the undead, pissed-off spirits of Flutter Ponies from G3, totally torqued about not being included in G4. Obviously.
81274
The fact that pony semen is indistinguishable from Mountain Dew is such an obvious one that I didn't feel I needed to illustrate it with a visual aid. Incidentally, the other way this episode let me down is that it did not end with Shining Armor doing an alicorn apotheosis so that I could have lovely and biologically orthodox thoughts about his Deliverance moment on the marital bed.
81277
Head-canon says: PRIVATE OBSERVATORY IN EVERFREE! So nyeah!
81300
Precisely.
OH LAWS THIS REPLY CHAIN IS WAY TOO LONG
81350
Well, my head-canon has Celestia strong enough to literally glass an area no smaller than that with a radius from the center of Canterlot to at least Ponyville and possibly a portion of the Everfree Forest. However, it's hard for her to hold back and still fight. Actually engaging at strength would have killed everything near her, ponies included. So she held back, underestimated her opponent, and got her horn blown out, which can temporarily incapacitate any unicorn, winged unicorn, or even alicorn (though it's very rare for the latter).
Now, don't get me wrong. Celestia was really in the wrong there, although I didn't get to see all of it yet.
(My internet connection sucks so the vids didn't load proper, I must've missed around 15%-20% of the ep, but I got enough to get what happened. ) Those are huge problems I had, too. WAAAAAAY out of character. There's a lot that just... argh, writing fail. Celestia, Y U NO TRUST TWILIGHT!? 
There was some good stuff, though. I love that the introduction of this villain made the world a bit darker, a bit larger, and a lot more interesting! It paves the way for more villains. I also loved the caves under Canterlot's mountain. I also thought Shining Armor was a decent character. A little 2D right now but his screen time was limited. At the very least he was portrayed as dutiful to country and very kind, although prone to overworking himself (a nice flaw there). The introduction of attack, defense, and other magic also bolsters my head-canon nicely. Oh, and Vinyl Scratch is back! Very yes! I also loved her animation there.
81380
Truth! It would've been a million times more believable if some MacGuffin was used to beat her. Don't care what, just give us a better explanation on how a physical goddess was taken down so easily. But then, kids show
81277
My head-canon says she was lured away by a distraction created by Chrysalis. Had she been there, Luna would've gone Nightmare Moon on the changelings' butts.
Caring about the plot of the show just gets in the way of enjoying the content of the episodes.
81274
81407
Well... No more Mountain Dew for me... Not that I care. It's not even allowed to be caffeinated where I live.
81581
I would give Queen Chysalis the benefit of believing she must have been of a dencent power level to start with to even think of taking over Equestria.
Twilight was did not exactly go about her accusations in the most reasonable of manners, but going off like that should have made others wonder a bit more. While she can be crazy at times, even at her worst she has not verbally attacked or been mean to anypony before.
81602
Oh yes, quite so. Well beyond any normal unicorn or winged unicorn. But Celestia.... would be considerably more powerful. Regardless, 'Tia screwed up big time in multiple ways. I wish she would've at LEAST apologized to Twilight.
But again, this is my own personal fan-fic-world head-canon, which means there is a lot of "I reject your reality and substitute my own!" going on here!
YMMV!
On a side note, while talking with my girlfriend I absolutely called it right that Shining Armor would be a barrier specialist.
Also, to those it may concern, now that they have Shining and Cadence to use extreme love power the Elements of Harmony can be retired to a secondary response as the new option is much easier on the logistics.
81599
Yeah, I know, there's part of me that just wants to bathe in the hot saccharine of a unicorn princess wedding. But part of the reason that the show pushes my buttons in the first place is the same reason that Jim Henson's "Fraggle Rock" does; yes, you've got candy-colored broad-strokes protagonists learning simple elementary-school lessons in their adorable universe, but it's also a deep and well-supported universe with complex philosophical underpinnings that just happens to be adorable. When Twilight first unleashes the Rainbow Magic of Friendship at the end of the pilot, it's sappy, yes, but it's also an awe-striking culmination of all her struggles thus far. We see the Magic of Friendship in action throughout; its weaponized state is just a natural metaphoric extension of the story. By contrast, Cadence's floaty-heart love-spreading without any struggle behind it becomes something akin to a Care Bear Stare, all candy with no nutrition. And that's not what I came for, I guess.
TL;DR reply: But I watch it for the plot!
82162
I watch it for the wiggle.
I definitely agree with the flaws in this one as y'all have pointed out already. My thought on that is that it's hard to introduce so many new characters and show their struggles in 44 minutes, and still leave time for some truly awesome songs and the obligatory screen time for the mane 6 to... y'know, do their thing for the season finale. (Pinkie firing the MachineTwilight had me in stitches.) This show needed to go out with a bang this season, and I think it's been pretty successful on that, despite the sub-standard plot. My hope is that in season 3 we'll see more of Shining Armor, Cadence, and even our new villain in somewhat more than a superficial way.
The pony / changeling battle... feels so much like the writers are trying to come up with a way to validate the Fighting is Magic project... That whole scene smacked of "We love you, you crazy bronies!" y'know, in a subtle way from the writers.
The part about Celestia being an insensitive clod to her most faithful student, and offering no kind of apology afterward... yeah, that was poorly done. I think it would have been better if Celestia hadn't been part of this story at all-- but that'd be even more improbable to pull off, y'know, being the aunt of the bride-to-be and having the setting be her royal seat and all. I suspect the writers of this episode thought the same, which is why Celly ends up showing up almost as a foot-note with only a few lines, proves to be totally ineffective at making any kind of difference, and even allows Chrysalis to assume her true form and monologue for a good minute or two before she decides to open a can of impotent solar whoop-ass.
And despite the tired old cliche about love vanquishing all (without, as y'all have pointed out, the necessary build-up to make it anything but a MacGuffin), a part of me is a little glad it wasn't the mane 6 and the Elements of Harmony who saved the day this time. Maybe this opens the door for exploring the strength of other virtuous powers?
One other thing... these episodes left so much unanswered, it feels like the show writers are practically inviting and hoping the fanfic writing community will fill some of the gaps... After all, there are many months until Season 3 starts up again...
One other thing: Cadence was foal-sitting Twilight before the latter had gotten her cutie mark. A princess foal-sitting an ordinary unicorn? I think not. This practically makes it canon that Twi was either being groomed or preordained for something, eh...
Oh yeah, something I forgot re: fanfic milling. Cadence has love powers, which would seem to make her the pony version of Eros, god of love. And that could be interpreted as meaning that it's not only the sun and moon who are under direct godly control (and for some reason Celestia and Luna never interact with the other goddesses, but never mind that). Taken to its logical end, that supports a sort of animist worldview, where every tree and rock and asshole Angel Bunny is under the supervision of some individual Princess. Which raises some interesting questions: what is Princess Everfree like? (The other Princess Everfree, not Celestia, Skywriter.
) What is Princess Buffalo like? Is Fluttershy personally acquainted with the Princess of Cute Fuzzy Animals? Who's the schlub who gets to be Princess Slime Mold?
81407 Of course! It all falls into place.